Startup

Top Accounting/Finance/Tax Pitfalls that early stage startups should AVOID!

Date:

Wednesday, August 22, 2018 - 18:00

Source:

NYC Startup Academy

Attendees:

51

Tags:

Startup

Networking

Join us on Wednesday, August 22nd at 6:00PM to learn what not to do when you're starting out with our Accounting Expert Mike Rhodes!

MICHAEL RHODES, CPAPartner, Technology Practice Leader

Mike Rhodes has 29 years of experience working with privately-held companies in a broad range of industries, providing traditional accounting and tax services. He is a leader in the firm’s Technology Practice, and in that capacity serves as a business advisor to emerging, entrepreneurial businesses, assisting them as they expand and mature. His clients look to him for his technical depth, realistic perspective, entrepreneurial spirit, and overall commitment.

Mike offers a unique value to his clients through a specialized skill set that has been honed through a blend of public accounting and operational experience, with direct, hands-on experience in the following areas:• CFO advisory services• Business expansion and investment• M&A due diligence• Business process reengineering and internal controls• Technical expertise

As a leader of the firm’s newly formed Technology and Risk Advisory Consulting (TRAC) Practice, Mike has extensive experience working with clients on their Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 compliance initiatives and has successfully led numerous Sarbanes-Oxley projects for companies ranging in size up to $26 billion. Mike also works extensively with privately-held companies to design effective internal control environments that will scale for anticipated, future growth. Mike’s TRAC work also includes Enterprise Risk Management initiatives for both publicly-traded and privately-held businesses. He has worked with many clients developing policies and documenting critical business processes necessary for effective corporate governance.

Mike began his career in the audit practice of one of the Big Six accounting firms and has also worked outside of public accounting in roles as a chief financial officer and vice president of finance.

AFFILIATIONSMike is a member of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

EDUCATION AND LICENSESMike earned his Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University and his Master of Science in Public Accounting from the University of Hartford. He is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York.

Every year, thousands of startups apply to Y Combinator, hoping to join the ranks of alumni like Dropbox, Airbnb, Stripe, and Reddit. But the application process is tough - 99% of applicants don’t get in.

But for accepted applicants, they get into a 3 month program that helps them develop their product, present at Demo Day, and join a community of expert alumni.

Thinking about applying? Then join us as Y Combinator alumni share their advice on

- Tips for the application- What to expect in the interview- What to focus on when building your startup- The value of YC or other accelerators- The program and what to expect- And more!

The panelists

- JJ Fliegelman is the co-founder and CTO of WayUp, the leading digital solution for employers to reach, engage, and recruit students and recent grads for internships and jobs. Before co-founding WayUp, JJ was a business analyst at McKinsey & Company. Having graduated magna cum laude from UPenn, JJ and his co-founder understood how difficult it was for their peers to find jobs they were qualified for, serving as the inspiration to create Campus Job (now WayUp, YC W15).

- Stephen Kuhl is the co-founder and CEO of Burrow (YC S16), a startup that is disrupting the furniture industry with more thoughtful, innovative furniture, beginning with a luxury, modular sofa. Stephen developed a passion for building companies when he co-founded an international education consulting startup out of college. He gained experience growing well-known brands as a strategy consultant at Accenture. More recently, he invested in several high-growth businesses while at Commonfund Capital. Stephen has a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He enjoys angel investing and outdoor sporting activities.

- Deepak Chhugani is the CEO and Founder of The Lobby (YC W18), a platform that instantly gets candidates mock interviews, resume reviews, insights, and more from company insiders. Prior to this, Deepak was an investment banking analyst at BofA Merrill Lynch. He also runs Kairos Society’s NYC chapter and went through YC as a solo nontechnical founder. He grew up in Ecuador, is of Indian parents and was born in Kenya.

- Tom Harari is the CEO and Co-Founder of Cleanly (YC W15), an on-demand laundry service. Before this, Tom worked on Omnicom Media Group’s Search Engine Marketing Team, where he acquired a passion for user acquisition, marketing, growth, and behavioral psychology. Cleanly has begun a dry cleaning revolution and is often referred to as the "Uber of Dry Cleaning."

IntroductionRaising Venture Capital Funding and Panel DiscussionsWhat do VCs want in the founder?What is the best way to get in touch with Angel Investors or VCS?What are the biggest mistakes founders make when pitching VCS?Advice on how founders should calculate and justify their valuation at an early stage.Q&A with audience

Matt Hartman is a partner at betaworks ventures. Prior to joining betaworks, Matt built ReferBoost (licensed to Apartments.com), and was at Hot Potato (acquired by Facebook). He began his career building the technology platform for Trammell Crow Company (acquired by CBRE) and is the inventor of Patent #[masked] related to the protection of digital images.Matt's writing and contact information at http://hrt.mn

Rogue is an angel investment vehicle created by founder turned startup strategist and seed investor, Diane Henry. Prior to Rogue, Diane dedicated 10 years to the successful operation and expansion of her Manhattan based commercial real estate company, landing her in Forbes Company to Watch.

where he focuses on operational improvements, deal sourcing, brand management and investor relations. In addition, he is the Managing Partner of a Real Estate fund, VM Properties. John previously invested in seed stage Real Estate tech companies through an accelerator, AREA. To learn more about John Henry, visit his website. Contact at [masked]

NYC Startup Academy Presents PR 101 for Startups

Date:

Wednesday, July 18, 2018 - 18:00

Source:

NYC Startup Academy

Attendees:

44

Tags:

Startup

Networking

Press - everyone wants it for their startup, but how do you get it? And how do you know if the media will view your company as truly "disruptive"? In this session, Elissa Ehrlich, a seasoned PR consultant, will walk entrepreneurs through the in's and out's of when and how to get publicity for their organization, product or service. She'll cover the basics - such as what is PR and what it can (and can not) do for you, how to know when your startup is ready for PR, the building blocks of any successful communications program and social media engagement basics. In this interactive session, you'll learn how to navigate relationships with journalists and what is "newsworthy."

Elissa Ehrlich is a communications consultant who has worked with startups throughout her 17+ year career, as well as household names. Prior to venturing out on her own as a consultant, Elissa was a vice president at Version 2.0 Communications, a technology-focused PR agency, where she led communications programs for startups and larger brands in the fintech, adtech, HR tech, real estate tech, enterprise tech, non profit and sustainability fields. Elissa loves uncovering and crafting unique stories about companies and the people behind them, and working with her network of journalists to bring these stories to the public.

Building a HealthTech Startup

Health tech is one of the fastest growing industries. Last year, $11.5 billion of capital was poured into health tech companies ($3.5B more than 2016).In this boom, New York City has emerged as a major hub for health tech startups, and home to major players in the game like ZocDoc, Oscar Health, and Blink Health, and for new companies like Roman and Smart Vision Labs.

Although health tech startups face challenges many other companies don't - they have to deal with established giants like hospital systems, insurers, drugmakers, while navigating regulations and laws that make it difficult to enter the market.Through all these hurdles we've seen health tech companies make our lives better by offering easier access to doctors, medicine, insurance, and more.

Join us as we find out what it takes to build a health tech startup in NYC! We'll discuss:- Hiring a team for a health tech startup- Testing and launching an MVP- Building momentum for your product- Adhering to rules & regulations- Helpful tools to use- Finding the correct target market for your product- Investors and ways to get funding... And much more!

About the panelists

- Zachariah Reitano is the CEO and Co-founder of Roman, an end-to-end service for men’s health backed by $3.1M in VC funding. Roman handles everything from online diagnosis to the convenient monthly delivery of medication – the first product helps treat the 30 million men who experience erectile dysfunction. He launched Roman with a mission to provide the most seamless and affordable way for men to receive healthcare treatment and start them on the path to identifying the root cause and living a healthier life. Prior to Roman, he was the EIR at prehype, a leading venture studio in NYC.

- Katherine Ryder is the founder and CEO of Maven, the digital clinic empowering women with expert, convenient, and compassionate healthcare. Previously, Katherine worked as an early stage investor at Index Ventures, where she focused on investments in digital health and education. Prior to that, she was a journalist, writing for The Economist from Southeast Asia, New York, and London. In 2009, she worked with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, helping him write his memoirs about the U.S. financial crisis.

- Neha Kumar is a Director of Product at Oscar and oversees the company's suite of products for healthcare providers, including the apps Oscar doctors log into for patient information, internal tooling for network management and servicing, operational systems and infrastructure, and integrations with our healthcare provider partners. Prior to joining Oscar, she worked in strategy and product at American Express where she worked on assessing the growing digital payments space and building out alternative banking products.

- Alexander Fabry is a product leader with eight years of experience building and scaling consumer-facing technology companies. He is currently Head of Product at Galileo, an early stage AI healthcare application, and previously let product teams at Blink Health a New York-based digital health startup that has raised over $160 million from investors like 8VC. Before Blink, Alexander was Director of Product Operations and Analytics at Artsy, where he was one of the first ten employees. He previously cofounded a non-profit to work on off-grid electrification in Africa and studied at Harvard and Cambridge Universities.

- Moderated by Ainsley Harris, a staff writer at Fast Company, where she covers the business of technology with a focus on financial services and education. Her work for print includes features on Google, GoFundMe, and SoFi. Previously, she worked in a variety of strategy and product roles after starting her career at McKinsey & Company.

User Retention & Customer Success: Advice from the Experts

In a study by the Harvard Business School, it was shown that a 5 percent increase in customer retention can lead to an increase in profits between 25 and 95 percent. That's because it's easier to have someone familiar with your brand purchase again, and they're more likely to refer your product to friends.

So as a startup, how can you increase your retention rates? The work doesn't stop after the sale, now you have to work hard to keep your customers happy and engaged.

We'll discuss how B2B and B2C companies reduce churn and use retention as a key metric to grow their startup on July 26th, as well as- What happens after the sale? How do you keep users happy- Key metrics to measure, like CLTV, churn, retention, etc.- Tactics for customer retention, like email, sms, and more- Managing and hiring customer success teams- What makes retention an important growth channel- Customer success and user retention at B2B vs. B2C... And much more!

The panelists

- Allen Beers is the director of Customer Success at Greenhouse, a software company which designs tools that help create and navigate the new world of work. A few of his responsibilities consist of hiring and mentoring the customer success team, ensuring expansion revenue, and driving continuous improvement of Greenhouse support & services. Previously, he was the Team Lead & Customer Success Manager at LinkedIn.

- Donté Ledbetter is the Senior Marketing Manager at Stash, the financial platform changing the way millions of Americans invest and save for their future. In this role, Donté focuses on full lifecycle CRM strategies to drive user retention, engagement, and loyalty. Prior to joining Stash, Donté worked in martech and adtech, educating marketers through content marketing. He’s also provided thought leadership to publications and organizations, such as Advertising Week, FindSpark, VentureBeat, NYU School of Professional Studies, and SUNY New Paltz.

- Spencer Burke is the VP of Growth at Braze, a customer engagement platform that delivers messaging experiences across push, email, apps, and more. Prior to his current role, Spencer was the VP of Customer Success at Braze and built out the Customer Success organization out over 5 years.

- (Guest Moderator) Adam Lovallo is a Co-founder of Grow.co, a community and event series for growth professionals. Their largest event, Mobile Apps Unlocked, brings together app marketers and product managers from both gaming and non-gaming verticals. Prior to Grow.co, Adam managed the growth team for LivingSocial, a daily deals site.

SEO & Content Marketing: What Startups Need to Know

“If you’re going to post content on your site anyway, you might as well take the time to make sure Google takes notice of your effort.” -The Content Factory

In a study done by Search Engine Journal, 93% of all traffic comes from a search engine. An impressive statistic, but also scary when you learn that 75% of users never look past the first page of results.

That's why having good SEO is key for businesses looking to increase their search traffic. But good SEO isn't the only piece of the puzzle when it comes to ranking on the front page. Having amazing, informative, helpful content that your readers enjoy and share is critical.

By combining your content marketing and SEO efforts, you'll build an effective marketing channel for your startup that will get you qualified, targeted search traffic. It's how startups like Basecamp, Buffer, and Kissmetrics have grown to reach millions of people through their blog, newsletters, e-books and more.

Join us on July 11th as we dive deep into content marketing and SEO for startups, and how you can use it to grow your business. We'll discuss:- Aligning content & SEO- Building a content marketing strategy- Optimizing different forms of content (blog posts, e-books, etc) for long-term results- Adhering to SEO principles and guidelines- Developing content- Measuring the ROI and other KPIs for content marketing... And much more!

About the panelists:

- Esther Chung is the Director of Content at event marketing technology, Splash, which powers in-person marketing programs for the world’s leading brands. At Splash, she leads the strategy, development, and distribution of content across all marketing channels. Previously, she developed the content and SEO strategy at Conductor and Plyfe.

- Matt Wellschlager runs Marketing at Ceros, where he joined 4 years ago, after working at SAP and Intralinks. Early on at Ceros he earned the nickname ‘Welly’ - not his greatest branding achievement. He likes odd marketing initiatives, the Grateful Dead, and the office pub, not necessarily in that order. He’s known for his open embrace of innovative approaches, extensive arguments with himself, and his difficulty taking headshots and writing bios.

- Meredith Wood is the VP of Content and Editor-in-Chief at Fundera. Prior to Fundera, she was the CCO at Funding Gates. She is an avid business writer, with her work appearing in such places as Fortune, Forbes, Inc, Entrepreneur, Refinery29, Yahoo! Finance, MSN, and more. Outside of work, Meredith sits on the Managing Council of the New York Junior League, overseeing the non-profits arts-focused work in the New York City community

Raising Venture Capital: Fundraising Advice from the Experts

Funding is one of the biggest pain points entrepreneurs face. And it begins with the question of what kind of funding to pursue. For those entrepreneurs considering a venture path for their startups, we know the road ahead can seem daunting: making the right connections, valuing your company, closing the deal and strategically planning a future that makes sense for the business, as well as a new set of stakeholders.

Join us for a panel discussion with founders and investors who’ll share their own insights from both sides of the table about securing early-stage funding.

We’re discussing:

Considering whether the venture path is right for your startup

Meeting the right people & building an investor funnel

Valuing your company

Deciding how much to raise

Understanding common mistakes and pitfalls in fundraising

Creating the right pitch

Negotiating

And much more!

About the panelists

Susan Lyne is the Managing Partner of BBG Ventures, an early stage fund that invests in consumer tech companies founded by women. Since 2014, the fund has invested in 55 companies including Zola, The Wing, Modsy, Lola, goTenna, KiwiCo, Collective Retreats, Glamsquad, HopSkipDrive, and Shine. Before founding BBG Ventures Ms. Lyne held leadership positions at media, technology, and entertainment companies of all sizes and stages, from startups to public companies.

Jeff Wald is the President & Co-founder of WorkMarket, a freelancer & contractor management system recently acquired by ADP . WorkMarket was featured in Crain's New York Business Fast 50 in 2014, and named one Forbes' America's Most Promising Companies in the same year. Jeff is cited as an expert in the freelance economy by publications like Bloomberg, Fortune, Huffington Post, and more. Jeff has successfully built and sold multiple tech companies like SpinBack and Buddy Media.

Katie Shea is a Partner at Kairos, a global fellowship program turned early-stage venture fund that she started in college. Previously, Katie ran a highly sought after growth consultancy working with Seed --> Series B tech companies. Prior to this, Katie ran marketing, PR & communications at OrderGroove - an enterprise software platform used by retail brands including Walmart, CVS & L'Oreal. Katie is also the Founder & President of The Strategic Exchange, an Empact100 White House honoree, and a BusinessWeek Top 25 Under 25 Entrepreneur. She has been featured on Fox News, New York Daily News, CNN, Forbes, Cosmopolitan, Entrepreneur Magazine & more.

Oisin Hanrahan is the CEO & Founder of Handy, the leading on-demand home services platform. Oisin launched Handy in 2012. Since then, they've over 3 million bookings have been made on their platform and they've eceived over $100 million in venture funding. Prior to founding Handy, Oisin founded MiCandidate, a service that provided real time political content to media companies in 25 European countries. He also founded Clearwater Group, a real estate development business in Budapest, Hungary.

Building a Social Impact Startup

Many entrepreneurs in NYC are building thriving and valuable businesses on the foundation of a social mission. Some build simply with the intention of the mission, some make it official as a B-Corp and others build social impact into their model.

The social impact mandate adds complexity to growing any business - especially a startup, already rife with challenges. On this panel, we’ll discuss many of these challenges, including

formalizing a mission within a companymarketing your missionfinding helpful resources along the waybuilding a model that incorporates social impact… and raising capital with social impact modelAbout the panelists

Christina Sass is Andela’s Co-founder and President. Prior to founding Andela, Sass built education and employment programs in China, Gaza and the West Bank, Kenya, and in her home state of Georgia. During her three years directing the Program Department at the Clinton Global Initiative, she worked to advance CGI’s Commitments to Action with a particular focus on the empowerment of girls and women. She also served as senior advisor to the president and CEO of the MasterCard Foundation, a private foundation working to advance education, employment, and financial inclusion in Africa.

Sarah Cone is the founder and Managing Partner of Social Impact Capital. Prior to founding Social Impact Capital, Sarah was a consultant to i(x) investments, an impact investing firm founded by Howard Buffett. Earlier in her career, Sarah was an Associate at Illuminate Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund with top decile performance investing in B2B SaaS. She got her start in venture capital working for the “emerging technologies” venture capital group at Omidyar Network.

Nahema Mehta, Co-founder & CEO of Absolut Art. An award-winning entrepreneur and budding philanthropist, Nahema’s work spans 4 continents and is inspired by her multicultural upbringing and cross-disciplinary career path. Professionally, Nahema has been featured in Forbes, The Financial Times, Bloomberg TV and CNBC, named a Game Changer by Google for Entrepreneurs, and honored at Fast Company’s 2016 Innovation by Design Awards and 2017 Most Creative Minds Conference. Philanthropically, Nahema fights for women’s education doing work recognized by the United Nations. In 2015 Nahema’s first company, Art Remba piqued the interest of Absolut's CEO who approached her to expand her vision as Absolut Art, making her the CEO of Absolut's inaugural venture and revenue stream beyond vodka and the youngest executive officer in the company’s history.

Felicity Conrad is the Founder and CEO of Paladin, a global pro bono platform building the tech infrastructure to close the justice gap. In addition to pioneering access to justice tech, Paladin was the first Public Benefit Corporation in the legal tech space. Before founding Paladin, Felicity was a litigator in the New York office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. An alumnus of McGill University, Sciences Po Paris and NYU Law, she has performed human rights work in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Haiti and China and joined the United Nations to work on International Criminal Court issues.

(Guest Moderator) Matt Brimer is the Co-founder of General Assembly, and Daybreaker. Matthew Brimer is an entrepreneur, community builder, and general instigator of mischief. He is Co-Founder of General Assembly, where he supports GA's global efforts around social impact, alumni community engagement, and partnership development. He has worn many hats at GA, cultivating the organization’s early community of startups and entrepreneurs, establishing critical global partnerships to expand the brand, and starting GA’s enterprise corporate training business. Most recently, Brimer launched GA's philanthropic arm, Opportunity Fund, so that anyone willing to work hard and follow their passions can have a meaningful career pursuing work they love.